The statistics are based on the California Crime Index, which measures the number of felony crimes reported in six categories: homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and auto theft.

Every category but burglary declined overall in the area in 2008. The number of burglaries – commercial and residential – crept up less than 1 percent.

The numbers show:

Homicides dropped from 56 to 39. Sixteen of the killings were in the Harbor Area, but well below the record 50 in 1997.

Police said most of the 106 rapes reported in 2008 involved people who knew each other.

Robberies dropped nearly 10 percent.

Gated Rolling Hills showed an alarming 167 percent increase, up from one crime in 2007 to eight in 2008. All eight crimes were burglaries and attributed to someone who gained access to the gate.

Hawthorne had just four homicides in 2008, a drop of 60 percent. But assaults and burglaries increased, giving the city a 4 percent rise in crime.

The statistics do not include vehicle break-ins, which has become a plague across the South Bay and Harbor Area. Police routinely warn residents to lock away their laptop computers, GPS devices, iPods and other valuables to prevent the crimes.

Officers in every city are watching crime rates closely in 2009 to see if the poor economy might lead to an increase in crime.

Los Angeles police, however, reported recently that property crime, such as burglary and auto theft, was down 6.4 percent in the first quarter of the year from the same period in 2008, and violent crimes, including homicides and rapes, dropped nearly 5 percent.

Robberies were up slightly, 1.6 percent.

The Sheriff’s Department reported a 10 percent decrease in serious violent and property crimes in its jurisdictions.

Overall, crime statistics in South Bay cities are 30 percent to 60 percent below what they were in the 1990s.

Here’s what’s happening across the South Bay and Harbor Area:

Carson

A significant reduction in gang homicides helped push the city’s crime rate down

Police Chief Ed Medrano credits the department’s “district policing” plan, which assigns officers to specific beats in the city where they get to know the residents and problems they face, and then work to solve them.

Gardena experienced a 57percent decrease in robberies during the holiday season in 2008, compared with 2007. Medrano said the department assigned officers and conducted extra patrols in shopping centers and major thoroughfares “so people know police are out there.”

Officers also targeted high-

risk gang members and haven’t had a gang-related shooting in nearly six months through mid-March.

Medrano said the fact that the department is at full strength – about 93 officers – helps. At times, the department was down to 67 officers.

“Cops do count,” Medrano said. “They do make a difference.”

Gardena also has worked to improve its preliminary work on investigations into crimes, and put as many detectives on a case as possible to solve it quickly.

“We want the reputation `Don’t come to Gardena to commit the crimes,”‘ Medrano said. “Everybody participates. The goal, of course, is getting those people in custody.”

Capt. Ed Burnett said officers worked most areas around schools and shopping centers to combat street robberies targeting people with cell phones.

The department has increased Neighborhood Watch programs and worked with residents to have them report suspicious activity, helping to prevent burglaries.

The number of burglaries would have been about 10 percent lower if not for a rash of break-ins at storage facilities. About 10 percent of the city’s burglary crimes occurred at storage units.

Harbor Area

The Harbor Area saw a 2percent decrease in 2008, buoyed by a 17 percent reduction in violent crime.

Homicides, rapes, robberies and assaults all decreased in 2008.

“Part of it is we are just trying to arrest people more quickly so they have fewer opportunities to commit additional crimes,” Los Angeles police Capt. Dave Lindsay said.

At the same time, the area experienced increases in burglaries and auto theft.

Forty percent of the stolen cars in the Harbor Area are 1985 to 2000 Honda Accords or Civics. Thieves steal them for transportation, not the parts, Lindsay said.

“We recover them a few days later, so if people would use a Club or some type of anti-theft device, we could really cut down on that,” Lindsay said.

Most of those cars have 150,000 to 200,000 miles on them and the lock mechanisms have worn out, making them easier for thieves to steal.

Toyota Camrys are next in line.

The Harbor Area continues to grapple with auto burglaries, seeing a 5.9 percent increase, or 1,384 to 1,465.

Burglars take laptop computers, GPS devices, cameras, purses and wallets left in plain sight in cars.

“People don’t even lock their cars. They’ll just leave, come out in the morning and find their stuff gone,” Lindsay said.

Hawthorne

Hawthorne posted decreases in homicide, rape, robbery and auto theft, but an increase in assaults and burglaries gave the city an overall 4 1/2 percent rise in crime.

Police Chief Michael Heffner was particularly pleased with a drop from 10 homicides in 2007 to four in 2008.

“We are ecstatic,” Heffner said. “That’s the lowest we’ve had since prior to 1980.”

Heffner said declines in some crime categories might be partly attributed to a larger contingent of officers on the street. Hawthorne, which has the lowest number of officers for its population in the South Bay, has 93 on the streets, and is hoping to get to its budgeted 100.

The department has been as low as 81 officers.

More people means more officers on patrol, conducting investigations and working with residents in Neighborhood and Business Watch groups.

Although robberies are down, the number remains high. Heffner said it is directly linked to youth-on-youth street robberies for the Sidekick cellular phone. The city is averaging five a week, although they have slowed as teens keep them hidden to avoid becoming victims.

Auto thefts also are down, but losing a car a day is “ridiculous,” Heffner said.

Police are conducting truancy sweeps to take teenagers off streets, going after auto thieves and urging residents and business owners to lock their cars and property to avoid becoming victims of car break-ins.

Fanner said police also want to hear from residents about suspicious activity.

“If you see something going down, we want you to report it,” he said. “Let us know before it happens.”

Hermosa Beach

Hermosa Beach showed a 17percent drop in crime with declines in every major category except robberies.

“It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what you can credit these to,” police Chief Greg Savelli said. “A lot of it has been awareness through our Neighborhood Watch campaign.”

The Neighborhood Watch sends e-mails urging residents to secure their homes, businesses and cars to prevent thefts, and puts out information on how to be aware of the surroundings to avoid becoming vulnerable.

Car break-ins continue to be a problem, just as in all South Bay cities.

Lawndale

Twelve more burglaries occurred in Lawndale than a year before, but decreases in robbery, assault and auto theft gave the city an overall 8 percent drop.

“I think what we’ve tried to focus on last year was truancy enforcement and so I think that helps with juveniles committing crimes and juveniles becoming victims,” sheriff’s Lt. Dominic Valencia said.

When school began, deputies focused on getting teenagers off the streets and into school or home.

The Lennox sheriff’s station, which has jurisdiction in Lawndale, has reorganized its detectives bureau and will focus more on property crimes and helping to reduce burglaries, Valencia said.

Lomita

Major crime in Lomita decreased 10 percent in 2008, prompted by drops in burglaries, assaults and auto thefts.

Sheriff’s Capt. Ronene Anda said detectives have made several arrests that have helped to curtail residential burglaries, as well as auto break-ins.

“Some of these burglars we arrested in Lomita are directly related to narcotics users,” Anda said. “Overall this year, we are really looking at burglaries being down quite a bit.”

A double-homicide in July remains unsolved. The investigation is continuing.

Deputies have spent time trying to get the message to residents to lock away belongings instead of leaving them visible on their car seats.

That has resulted in a 29percent drop in vehicle burglaries, she said.

Deputies also have been more active, arresting 200 more people than they did a year earlier, helping to take criminals off the streets, Anda said.

Police in Manhattan Beach also attributed the decline in burglaries to officers paying closer attention to the people who steal recyclables from curbside bins.

Police took a stronger approach after receiving numerous complaints. Many people taking recyclables were not poor, but organized groups coming into cities and making money off the recyclables that are supposed to help keep trash rates low for residents, Uyeda said.

The tough stance put more officers into neighborhoods and helped to reduce thieves who might see an open garage and add some property to their aluminum cans, Uyeda said.

“Overall I think crime went down just because officers are more proactive,” Uyeda said.

Palos Verdes Estates

Crimes in Palos Verdes Estates reached their highest level this decade, following 2007, when it was the lowest.

The difference produced a huge increase of nearly 35 percent.

Still, the city had among the least crimes reported in the South Bay in 2008, including no robberies, rapes or homicides.

The city’s total – 89 – was higher than normal. The average was about 75 since 1999.

“I really believe it’s part of the economy,” Police Chief Dan Dreiling said. “We’ve seen a real upturn toward the end of last year and the beginning of this year.”

Palos Verdes Estates was hit hard by so-called “distraction burglars,” criminals who move into a community, hit it hard and move on.

Dreiling said the burglars knocked on residents’ doors, told the homeowners their roof was in need of repair and that they should walk around to the back to take a look.

While they are in the backyard, a thief walks in the front door and pilfers small items.

“That comes to town every couple of years,” Dreiling said. “Once in a while you get lucky and someone will make an arrest. These guys operate right under your nose.”

Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills Estates

and Rolling Hills

Rancho Palos Verdes experienced a 10 percent drop in crime, primarily because of decreases in burglaries and auto thefts.

However, its Peninsula neighbors, also patrolled by Lomita sheriff’s deputies, saw increases. Rolling Hills Estates was up 1.3 percent, primarily because assaults rose from eight in 2007 to 24 in 2008.

In gated Rolling Hills, crime rose substantially, 167 percent. All eight crimes in the city were burglaries, something that does not usually happen in a town where people must go through a gate to enter.

“People get in and a lot of times there is a nexus between someone who lives there and who used to live there,” Anda said.

Deputies obtained a vehicle license plate number and made arrests that stopped the burglary spree.

Gang activity at the Harbor Hills community on the edge of Rancho Palos Verdes also is down. New laws enable officials there to evict tenants involved in criminal activity.

Redondo Beach

Major crime in Redondo Beach dropped nearly 10 percent in 2008, thanks to dips in each of the six crime categories and the death of a prolific burglar.

The number of burglaries in 2007 – 323 – dipped to 281 in 2008, a 13 percent drop. The 2007 number was largely attributed to Arthur Glen Dailey Jr., who was tied to about 40 break-ins, police Chief Joe Leonardi said.

Dailey broke into homes and typically took pillowcases from victims’ beds and filled them with jewelry and other items before fleeing.

“He was a one-man crime spree,” Leonardi said.

Police identified Dailey as the culprit when he left skin cells on a pillowcase that he had touched and left behind.

When officers tried to find him to arrest him, they discovered he had died.

After his death, the number of burglaries in the city declined.

Last year marked the fourth straight year that Redondo Beach did not record a homicide.

Just like its counterparts across the South Bay, the city has been hit hard by vehicle break-ins.

Torrance

Declines in robberies and auto thefts dropped major crime in Torrance by 5 percent.

The city, however, posted an increase in burglaries, primarily because of a group of criminals believed responsible for about 40 break-ins from Torrance to the San Fernando Valley, police Sgt. Bernard Anderson said.

The burglars, working during the day, targeted houses where no one appeared to be home.

Police arrested three men in July.

A majority of the holdups were street crimes, where robbers took iPods and cell phones.

Police, using an analytical approach to policing, tracked where the crimes occurred and targeted those areas with officers to make arrests.

“The decrease in robberies was probably what really stands out in our crime-fighting efforts, a reduction of nearly 19 percent,” Police Chief John Neu said.

Neu said police officers trained and worked closely with Del Amo Fashion Center security officers, resulting in a 32 percent decline in crime – including auto theft, vandalism, shoplifting and assault – at the mall.

Police also worked closely with the City Prosecutor’s Office to file charges in misdemeanor crimes at the mall, including forgery and identity theft, Neu said.

Larry Altman has covered crime and court proceedings in Southern California since 1987. A graduate of Cal State Northridge, where he served as editor of the college newspaper, Altman has worked for the Daily Breeze since 1990. The Society of Professional Journalists named him a "Distinguished Journalist" in Los Angeles in 2006. Altman's work was featured twice on CBS' “48 Hours” and he appeared eight times with “Nancy Grace," who called him "dear." He has covered hundreds of homicides and many trials. Altman has crawled through a mausoleum to open a coffin, confronted husbands who killed their wives, wives who killed their husbands, and his coverage helped put a child molester and a murderer in prison. In his spare time, Altman is an avid Los Angeles Lakers and Dodgers fan, is the commissioner of a Fantasy Baseball league with several other current and former newspapermen, runs a real estate empire and likes to watch old movies on TCM.

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